Hans Egede (1686–1758) and the alchemical tradition in Denmark-Norway

Abstract

ArgumentHans Egede (1686–1758), the famous missionary and natural historian in Greenland, was one of very few known Norwegian alchemists. This article seeks to place Egede’s alchemy in the context of the European alchemical tradition by identifying his sources in alchemical literature. Through an analysis of Egede’s account of an alchemical experiment performed by him in 1727, Ole Borch, Johann Joachim Becher, and Michael Sendivogius are identified as his main sources. Egede’s procedure and choice of materials are shown to be based on texts by these authors. The article argues that Egede’s alchemical interest was more pervasive than hitherto understood, through the demonstration of connections between his alchemical studies and his work as a natural historian. Further it is argued that Egede’s alchemy was not unique or anachronistic but exemplifies the continued belief in and practice of transmutational alchemy in Denmark-Norway in the early decades of the eighteenth century.

“None of Them Could Say They Ever Had Seen Them, but Only Had It from Others”: Encounters with Animals in Eighteenth-Century Natural Histories of Greenland

“…In Egede's Perlustration [4], the detailed observational accounts of local flora, fauna, and human encounter and exploitation were accompanied by an equally detailed narrative of his own alchemical activity. Egede's acquisition of information about the natural resources of Greenland infused his accounts of experiments with alchemy, but that same process by which personal knowledge was obtained and exploited also turned the Perlustration into a visual and textual map of the materials that could be exploited by colonists, traders, and the Danish crown [49,50]. The third chapter of the book [4] The nature of the soil, plants, and minerals of Greenland presented historical and literary evidence for the fertility of the land, painting a picture that was then qualified by the process of personal observation.…”

“…By comparison, Chapter 17 [4] Of the Greenland Trade, and whether, in promoting it, there is any Advantage to be expected was couched in a more optimistic tone; if the old lands, formerly inhabited and manured by the Norway colonies, repopulated with men and cattle, Egede claimed, "they would, without doubt, yield as much as either Iceland or Feroe." As far as trade was concerned, "if we once became masters of this trade, as it in justice belongs to us" it would be as profitable as any [49,50]. Egede was prepared to use personal encounter to criticise traditional assumptions, and to make a direct appeal to the interests of his patrons.…”